Multimedia files are typically stored in compressed formats, such as the Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG) format for images or the Moving Pictures Experts Group (MPEG) format for videos. Despite the use of compression, multimedia files often occupy a large amount of digital storage space. In order to improve compression, inter-file compression may be used. In general, inter-file compression is used for managing large amounts of text-based data files.
Currently, there are two methods for implementing inter-file compression of data. The first method, chunking, divides a group of files into segments. Identical segments are stored only once, thereby reducing the space required to store redundant portions of the group of files. The second method, delta compression, is based on the resemblance and delta among files. While both chunking and delta compression are useful for text-based data, these methods are not advantageous for compressing multimedia files. In particular, neither method provides any further compression for multimedia files.